Testing, Historical Development of

Origins of Testing

The first sustained system of written standardized tests was developed in China in the 7th century and continued, largely uninterrupted, until 1905. The Chinese civil service examination system was developed to identify capable and ethical administrators for positions in the local, provincial, and national and palace levels of the Imperial government. Though it was modified many times over its long history, the exam continued to place great emphasis on philosophical and ethical doctrines established by Confucius and his disciples.

The Chinese civil service exams lasted up to 3 days and were administered in compounds, often comprised of thousands of three-sided rooms, one for each examinee. Exam compounds and examinees were kept under constant surveillance by soldiers. Severe consequences befell cheating. Efforts were also made to score the exams fairly and objectively: Examinees' papers were identified only by number, and each exam was recopied by another calligrapher before being scored by expert readers.

The Chinese civil service exams were intended to foster a meritocratic government bureaucracy. Although women were excluded, nearly all males were allowed to participate. The rigorous nature of the exams required many years of study. Even then, only 1 in 100 men passed the lowest, local-level exam. Of these successful examinees, approximately 1 in 3,000 succeeded through the palace-level test. Although the government provided exam-study schools, poor families could rarely forgo their sons' needed labor for such infrequent rewards.

The societal influences of the civil service exam system were broad. Hoi Suen and other modern scholars of the civil service exam system have found that the test's emphasis on memorizing philosophical treatises reduced learning in science and other untested areas. Some investigators assert that the exam system served to strengthen imperial control much more than meritocracy. The most promising young men devoted their energies to absorbing Confucian philosophy, which focuses on the maintenance of social harmony and hierarchical social structures. Nevertheless, relative to obtaining privileged appointments solely by virtue of birth or aristocratic appointments, the exam system was an improvement, and variations of it were adopted throughout much of East Asia.

British citizens in China were impressed by the exam system, and in the latter half of the 19th century adapted its methodology for selecting civil servants for the British Empire. The British exam was also a rigorous written test and open to all young men of good health and character. However, success on it typically required extensive education at Cambridge or Oxford. Advocates of the exam held that it would evaluate educational attainment as well as intelligence.

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